11 October, 2015

This Week In Videogames – 11/10/2015

By
Kyle Shimmin

It is your Destiny to catch up with this week’s curated
news! Sadly, tragically even, there are no Kawaii hotdogs or ripped dudes
sporting nothing but their skimpiest undies this time around. Instead we have plenty
of disease, rotting and foetid!

Survival Is Timeless

Ubisoft, the publisher best known for the Rabbids, announced
a new and considerably less adorable videogame in the most excruciating manner
just this week. Far Cry Primal was supposed to be revealed after an eight hour
long stream of cave drawings, with the shot gradually widening to show more.
But thanks to IGN Turkey, who prematurely tweeted the existence of the game
alongside a promotional image, the jig was up after only a few hours. Set in
the Stone Age, Far Cry Primal sees you stepping into the hide booties of
Takkar, whose hunting buddies were killed in an ambush, Takkar must employ his
‘extensive set of survival skills’ to ensure the wellbeing of both himself and
his tribe.

According to Jean-Christophe Guyot, creative director:

“The Stone Age is the perfect setting for a Far Cry
game… The Stone Age is, in a way, the very first frontier for humankind; it’s
the time when humans put a stick in the ground and claimed land for their own,
the time when we started climbing the food chain. That came with conflict,
against other humans of course, but also against nature itself.”

Here’s the announcement trailer.

Far Cry Primal is slated for release on February 23rd
2016, on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, coming to PC sometime in March 2016.

Wyrdstone Age

Mordheim: City of the Damned (this week’s token Games
Workshop property) is nearing an actually release having been available as an
Early Access title on Steam, since late last year. In its latest trailer below,
the same dude who brought us the low down on Battlefleet Gothic: Armada some weeks back, presents a similar exposition of Mordheim, a tactical turn-based
role-playing game. Detailing the four factions (or Warbands) available, each of
which will have their own single player campaign. Warriors can be levelled up
and customised, and Warbands can be taken online against other players. Look
for Mordheim’s full release in the ‘first weeks of November’.

All Knowing Phil

Hot on the heels of a Japanese price cut, Sony announced that from October 9th, PlayStation 4’s would receive a new price of
$349.99 in the US, and $429.99 in Canada. A move predicted by Xbox head Phil
Spencer last month. Meaning both the Xbox One and PS4 baseline models are
available for $350 in the US, there are of course a plethora of bundle options,
the new prices of which Sony outlined in the helpful table below.

It’s A Disease I May Never Be Rid Of

Were you prepared to literally throw money at the screen for
those hot limited edition dance emotes all those weeks ago? Well doing it
literally still won’t get you far, but figuratively, come Tuesday (October 13th)
you’ll get your chance. That’s right microtransactions – you knew they were
coming sometime!

Silver will be available on both Xbox Live and PSN from this
Tuesday, for use at the ‘Eververse Trading Company’. Initially at least, only
emotes (18 of them) like dances will be sold, and players will receive a small
amount of complementary Silver to try out the store. Perhaps most galling of all, the proceeds of
these microtransactions will be used to fund the live team; the team
responsible for keeping Destiny interesting with in-game events and such. True,
there isn’t a monthly fee like some MMOs, but considering all the crap Bungie
said about Destiny pre-launch, about it being an ever changing world, putting
the onus on the player base by saying; buy microtransactions and we’ll support
the game between the arguably overpriced expansions, feels a little
questionable in my opinion.

As I’ve stated numerous times, microtransactions are not a
part of the modern industry that I usually take issue with; I’ll happily throw
money at some games, and I wouldn’t dream of judging anyone who does the same
with Destiny. But I would argue Destiny has been (and probably always will be) a
raw deal for anyone trying keeping up with its content. Of course, the moment
they offer armour shaders for real world money all bets are off…

Not only is Destiny rotting, but it’s now become more
infectious than ever! This week PS4 owners, who’ve managed to keep mercifully
distant of Destiny, awoke to find Destiny The Taken King already added to their
library. Just waiting to be purchased and downloaded.

This nightmare revelation was the result of the curated
content feature, according to Polygon. When enabled the PS4 will recommend and download
links to select titles, which theoretically suit your likes and dislikes. The
feature can of course be disabled in the system settings, but for some it may be
too late, the Destiny stink may already have reached the fabrics.

Size Isn’t Everything

In an interview with MCV UK, Jose Teixeira a CD Project Red
visual effects artist, described the sheer scale of the studio’s current project;
Cyberpunk 2077. Teixeira stated, “Cyberpunk is far bigger than anything else
that CD Projekt Red has done before,” and that they’re, “[…]really
stepping into the unknown in terms of complexity and size and problems we
encounter.”

As someone who felt that The Witcher 3, CD Project Red’s
previous release back in March, was greatly diminished by a cornucopia of
issues both in its design and execution, it was reassuring to hear Teixeira discuss
the impact of The Witcher 3 on Cyberpunk 2077. Saying:

“If anything, working
on The Witcher 3 was a really good and often brutal learning experience.
Cyberpunk is going to benefit greatly from it. I can almost guarantee it.

"I have a lot of things that I want to change and do
better the next time around, and I can guarantee that almost everyone in that
studio has something that they go 'I did this this time, next time I can do it
differently, I can do it better'.”

ONI, The Last Bastion Of Style

The Halo 5: Guardians marketing warmachine keeps rolling,
its advance implacable… Just like the
UNSC’s tanks! On Halo Waypoint this week we got a look at some of the vehicles
in the UNSC’s mighty arsenal, in REQ Card form of course. Gone are the days of the
plain old green Scorpion, because thanks to the Human-Covenant War every
department and office now has access to the big guns. The image on the right is
of just such a vehicle, a Scorpion tank sporting the classy black of the Office
of Naval Intelligence. Check out these Waypoint blog posts for more UNSC goodness, and some Covenant love.

You’ve read it. You’ve played it. And soon you can watch it.
Here’s the launch trailer of Halo: The Fall of Reach, an animated take on Eric
Nylund’s earlier book, detailing the origins of the ethically questionable –
no, downright morally objectionable – Spartan II project.

The Fall of Reach animated series will be included in the Halo
5: Guardians Limited Edition(s) available October 27, 2015, viewable on
the Halo Channel. With a DVD/Blu-ray release listed for December 1.

Additionally, Microsoft announced Halo 5 went gold this week,
releasing the meaty infographic found below. Click to enlarge!

This Potato Is Exciting

Rather than depart on a totally bizarre note, as I’m one to
do, I’ve decided to end it on the single most exciting video that I’ve watched
all week. Though only twenty-two seconds long, this is a real scoop, a genuine
sneak peak at what’s on the horizon for Elite Dangerous.

Elite Dangerous: Horizons launches later this year, but it’s
not just a single expansion, it’s a new season of content that will continue to
roll out over 2016. Planetary landings are just the beginning.